Printing-plate.



NTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN KAEGI, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

PRINTING-PLATE.

SPECIFCATION forming part 0f Letters Patent NO. 666,098, dated. January 15, 1901. Application tiled October 28, 1899. Serial No. 735,032. (No model.)

To all when?, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN KAEGI, a citizen of France, residing at Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia,and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Printing-Plates as Used in the Print ingor Embossing of Wall-Paper, duc., of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the process of producing printing-plates, and has for its object to produce printing-plates for the printing of wall-papeigoil-cloth, dac., greatly increasing the quality and uniformity of the product and reducing the amount of material used and time occupied in manufacturing.

Heretofore the manufacture of printingplates for use on rollers for the purpose of printing or embossing wall-paper has been more costly through the greater waste of material and length of time occupied in preparing and finishing the plates after casting.

For a better understanding of my new process of manufacturing printing-plates such as are now used on rollers for the purpose of printing or embossingwall-paper it may be necessary to explain briefly the old method of manufacturing the plates.

Preparatory to casting the plates the design or pattern is first made on wood or any other suitable material, with the design sunk or graved below the surface of the wood. This being arranged in a suitable position, a steel plate A, having deeply-recessed portions or apertures a', which are threaded to receive a machine-screw ct at intervals over its surface, is fixed in position fronting the design or pat- Y tern from which it is desired to get the impression, with a small space intervening between the steel plate and the graved design or pattern on wood. The melted metal as used for the plates is then poured into the open space between the steel plate and the design on wood, the molten metal running freely into and partaking on its one side a bas-relief of the design graved on the wood pattern and on its reverse side partaking a smooth surface, except at the portions which have been deeply recessed and threaded apertures provided with the machine-screws, into which the metal has run, and so forming a lug or projection on the back of the cast impression of the design. This old method has been necessary, so that when the cast plate was to be removed the lugs on the back of the cast plate, together with the machine-screw, which is embedded in the metal, run around and,

.forming the lug, would fasten the cast plate to the steel plate, so as to allow a good hold being taken of the cast plate or impression sufficient t-o pull it oif or separate it from the original in wood, it requiring more or less force to lift or remove it, according to the simplicity or the intricacy of the original design, and into which the molten metal has entered. After separating the cast plate from the steel plate it has been necessary to finish it by cutting off the lugs mentioned very carefully and dressing down the plate, so that all portions of the cast plate may be perfectly level, so that the plate may be properly mounted on rollers preparatory to printing. These old methods involve considerably more time and expense in cost of labor and material and increased risk of injury to the plate 'through the manipulation of cutting off the lugs and dressing the surface smooth.

Having thus given a brief general outline of the old system and methods in general use, I will explain the objects 'of my newly-invented process of making printing-plates for the purpose described, the objects of which are, first, to provide a new process of manufacturing printing-plates for the printing or embossing of wall-paper, oil-cloth, dac.; second, to provide a new and improved process of manufacturing printing plates for the printing or embossing of wall-papers thatwill entirely dispense with the old necessity of casting plates having lugs or any form of projection or raised portion of metal on the reverse side from the design; third, to provide a process for making and for printing wallpaper, oil-cloth, dac., that will produce a finished plate ready to be placed in its position upon a roller or block without having any lugs or projections to be dressed o or removed, and thereby effecting a great saving in the cost of production by the reduction of labor, manipulation, time, and material.

Having fully described the various objects and advantages of my new process of manufacturing printing-plates for printing or embossing wall-paper, oil-cloth, duc., I will proceed to explicitly set forth the system and IOO operationsof the process which constitutes my invention.

To carry my invention into eect, the method of making the printing-plate for the printing or embossing of wall-paper, oil-cloth, te., and to accomplish the purpose of my process is as follows:

In illustrating the invention reference will be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a sectional View showing theH old arrangement of parts, and Fig. 2 is asectional view of a mold and plate embodying the invention.

In the drawings, A denotes a steel plate having threaded holes a and a countersunk surface a', and in practice it has been necessary to remove the lugs which formed in the recesses from the back of the cast plate.

.In the method of forming part ofthis invention I employ a backingfplate l having a smooth surface, which I immerse in a bath of any suitable flux to insure the adhesion of the type-metal. I have found in practice that muriatic acid and zinc produce the result, although I do not wish to be limited to its use, as other fluxes may be used to coat the plate. The uX is applied to the backing-plate, and when still wet said plate is immersed in a molten metal, which causes a thin layer of metal to adhere to the backing-plate. The metal is then cast and adheres to the thin plate to produce the design-plate.

The

smooth surface of the backing-plate is then placed toward the mold 2, carebeing taken `to insert strips 3 around the edges of the patmanner to the roller-block.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The herein-described process of producing cast design-plates for printing or embossing,

Aconsistingin coatingabacking-plate with acid JOHN KAEGI.

Witnesses:

K. C. MoMIoHAEL, R. M. PIERCE. 

